Čavoglave and Spring of Čikola

Many are the places we learned about from the war years of the 90s. Most of them in Slavonija but many in the hinterland of Dalmatia. One of such places was Čavoglave.

Best known from the iconic song by Marko Perković “Thompson”, Čavoglave has became a symbol of war in Dalmatia and a popular destination for everyone celebrating the liberation of Croatia on August 5th.

An old, 90s tank on its resting grounds on the entrance to Čavoglave

But, Čavoglave is also a place where one of the prettiest Dalmatian rivers starts its flwo to Krka river. Čikola is a very special river and has a dramatic canyon starting just south of Drniš. The river is 47,8 Km (cc 30 miles) long and is one of the longer Dalmatian rivers. I was always curious what the spring looks like and one of my goals is to drink from every spring of Dalmatian rivers.

The river spring is not even in Čavoglave but at the very border of a small village of Mirlović Zagora. Of all Dalmatian rivers, I guess only Cetina has an impressive spring and all others are nowhere near as dramatic as the main flow. Krupa, Zrmanja, Čikola, Krčić… Nothing special.

The spring is just below this house

The spring of Čikola is actually a small cave that is not easy to reach in Spring as there is quite a bit of water but there is a small path to it from the main, asphalted road.

It is prettier if you actually go to the big house (former mill) at the water and that is easy to reach but you just ask the owners if they are around. The river flows right through the fields all the way to Drniš and it is a gentle, easy flow through really beautiful pastures and meadows.

But, it is not good for drinking… The river spring is just below the houses where people actually live or rent them out and the septic system is simply (or most likely) connected to the spring. But, no matter what the spring looks like or the quality of water there, Čikola is still very clean and a very impressive river!